Cincinnati Park Board member Bob Anning resigned Monday, telling Mayor John Cranley that the board has been stripped of independence and therefore he can no longer be a member.

The resignation comes in the wake of Anning questioning why Assistant City Solicitor Terry Nester used a locksmith to break into the Bettman Nature Preserve after it closed for the evening in February; a fight over Diane Rosenberg's term that resulted in her ousting and during a time where the park board as a whole agreed to be more transparent about its special endowment funds

"Since I cannot abide an agreement that strips the park board of its independence; independence from the city that was established over a century ago by the citizens of Cincinnati, I am compelled to resign..."

Anning served the parks in various capacities for 23 years.

Cranley told The Enquirer he would "like to thank Mr. Anning for his service to the Park Board and our City.”

Two years of talks about oversight of Park Board endowments reached a stalemate toward the end of last year, and then Cranley moved to replace Park Board chair Dianne Rosenberg.

Rosenberg fought it in court, but a court ultimately decided her term ended Feb. 1. Cranley selected Jim Goetz as her replacement. After that, in April, the city and Park Board reached a deal that provides more city oversight of board spending.

Anning said in his letter to Cranley, "As you well know, for nearly two years Commissioners Rosenberg, (Susan) Castellini and I worked diligently and in good faith to draft a memorandum of understanding with the city that would preserve the independence of the Park Board and its private endowments as well as implementing the observations for potential enhancement from the ... audit."

Yet, he added, the city never responded to the board's ideas. Then in April, he said, the board was presented with a "vastly altered document" crafted by the city solicitor and a couple of board members, he said.